When i first joined A.B i felt i had more time but 8 odd years later it feels like i am time poor. Has the world, and life, become busier in the last decade It certainly feels like it. So many enthusiasts have come and gone in that time and i sometimes wonder what became of them. Remember Jamie, a prolific contributor who came and went, then came and went again. Life has become fast for most and who has the time for posting.

"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"

Well I still think it is one of the more active bonsai forums there are, the EU forum just died completely and a lot of the others while they still have lots of older postings to read through they don't have much activity so I think comparatively speaking AB isn't doing too badly.As for the pics if you use something like flickr then just add the sharing bbcode and there is no mucking about.

I do think it would be useful for non members to see the pics simply because there is a lot of info related to natives here that you don't get on other forums and it would be nice to show a link without the proviso you have to join up to view it.I do see the point but I think you catch more flies with honey type of thing.

True I could post more as well, might go update a couple of forgotten threads of mine but still being new I don't have a great deal to add.

Does everyone appreciate the irony of a topic on ausbonsai not being active being SO active ? I find myself having less spare time and not as much to say. Not sure how someone being able to look at photos but not make a comment or post their own topic can possibly make the site more active ? Anyway good to see everyone posting here

Regards Tony

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing" - George Bernard Shaw

I haven't been here for ages and the reason is simple. I have a Hot Rod event on in Darwin next month plus a family visit, so I have been flat out in the shed, trying to get my new car done. I actually saw a couple of my trees today, while I was degreasing a diff housing. Did someone say something about being time poor earlier.

Maybe the "recent topics" page could have say 15 threads rather than 8 on page 1.Because I tend to jump on and check the most recent activity so if the threads hang around longer they might see more people posting to them.Just a thought

Last edited by benbonsai on May 12th, 2017, 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

It's not easy to find something new to say every week, year after year. We're mostly just plugging away doing our usual stuff, and things improve glacially slowly. Many thanks to those who keep contributing.

If I have anything I'd like to see, it's photos of natives in the wild - there's so much more to see and learn. I need to learn a lot more about how branches move on our natives, as opposed to the bonsai habits I've accumulated over the years - the habits are very persistent, and not really useful to reflect the way our natives grow.

benbonsai wrote:I have another suggestion that might help increase some activity.

Maybe the "recent topics" page could have say 15 threads rather than 8 on page 1.Because I tend to jump on and check the most recent activity so if the threads hang around longer they might see more people posting to them.Just a thought

On the top right of the box there are 10 pages of recent topics.

I will endeavour to post a little more, I usually want to post but decide not to and wait for more experienced members to contribute with better, more comprehensive advise.

Better to keep your mouth shut and have people assume you're a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

I don't post up as many threads of my own trees as I should, I will attempt to remedy this soon.

Uploading photos is only hard to those that are either new to it or don't do it often enough to remember. I admit the whole resizing thing gave me the shits at the start. But do it on you phone. Download a free resizer app. Take pic, then resize then post and attach. All done in less than a minute. Maybe a tutorial would help some????

A stick in a pot is better than no stick at all. Remember even the best bonsai started as a stick.